Multimodal MR imaging of brain iron in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a noninvasive biomarker that responds to psychostimulant treatment?

PURPOSE: To comprehensively assess brain iron levels in typically developing control subjects and patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when psychostimulant medication history is accounted for.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained. Brain iron was indexed noninvasively by using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging relaxation rates (R2, R2*, R2') and magnetic field correlation (MFC) in the globus pallidus, putamen, caudate nucleus, and thalamus for 22 patients with ADHD (12 medication-naïve patients and 10 with a history of psychostimulant treatment) and 27 control subjects (age range, 8-18 years). Serum iron measures were also collected. Subgroup differences were analyzed with data-appropriate omnibus tests followed by post hoc pairwise comparisons; false discovery rate correction was conducted to control for multiple comparisons.

RESULTS: Medication-naïve ADHD patients had significantly lower striatal and thalamic MFC indexes of brain iron than did control subjects (putamen, P = .012; caudate nucleus, P = .008; thalamus, P = .012) and psychostimulant-medicated ADHD patients (putamen, P = .006; caudate nucleus, P = .010; thalamus, P = .021). Conversely, the MFC indexes in medicated patients were comparable to those in control subjects. No significant differences were detected with R2, R2*, R2', or serum measures.

CONCLUSION: Lower MFC indexes of striatal and thalamic brain iron in medication-naïve ADHD patients and lack of differences in psychostimulant-medicated patients suggest that MFC indexes of brain iron may represent a noninvasive diagnostic biomarker that responds to psychostimulant treatment.